Bread and Puppet: BP9342
Video Item Preview
Share or Embed This Item
- Publication date
- 1993
- Topics
- Bread and Puppet, Piscator, Peter Schumann, Brecht, war, weapons, 1968, Judith Malina, John Bell, George Bartenieff, Artaud, Zola, Tolstoy, art, funding, Isaac Bell, New School, Bertolucci, Othello, grasshoppers, , puppet, theater, Peter Schumann
- Language
- English
Title #1, Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 .
Archival video footage from the Bread and Puppet Theater community, including performances and preparation for their productions.
This is the continuation of the workshop with Judith Malina, George Bartenieff and John Bell which starts on 9339, continues on 9338.
Judith reads from her notes from classes at the New School with Piscator: society wants justice and an end to war…the doubters want butter. There is betrayal from drug store to the New School. Art is an excuse for our imperfections; we made art a special thing and the spirit flew out. We need art to complete the incompleteness of life. We have to take a step to this in the theater. Political theater IS art theater; Piscator said to use the audience to describe the impact of the story; Zola, Tolstoy, Schiller--these are the ancestors of political theater. He who wants nothing is nothing; Applause from audience. 7:56 John Bell: open up for discussion; Judith: Well, if there are no questions start the revolution now! Question; technology competes with theater. Piscator used all kinds of technology. John Bell: You are standing in front of DeeDee Halleck of Paper Tiger (with video technology).
Judith: we should not be afraid of technology: we should not be intimidated; they crumble to nothing; embrace the technology and all human possibilities. We are not competing; we have each other’s presence; nothing electronic will ever surpass a mind blowing human relationship.
George Bartenieff: Piscator discovered the use of technology. He took the romance out of it. With B and P we are back to people and more ancient things.
Q: Didn’t Living theater work with Bertolucci in the 1970s?
Judith: films and theater have a great deal more to go together-- Bertolucci did that, not just a scripted story. It was call the Fruitless Thing? They changed the name. There were four important directors, Passolini, Goddard, Bertolucci and ?. But the church squashed the film; It was repressed by the people who paid for it. …
Q:the relationship between Piscator and Artaud-- Piscator could not appreciate Artaud’s emotionalism; not Stanislovsky.
Judith: Piscator really respected actors; demanding a present personal statement. Peter Schumann has taken a puppet and given it so much persona; We are all cerebral but also emotional. We want intellect and guts; clearly the human being is a physical being; We are both.
Question from woman in hat: in asking whether you are emotional or intellectual or bringing it all together. I saw in your husband (Julian) both him and the role he was playing.
Judith: Necessity to be both. Can I be really Othello and not really strangle the actor who is Desdemona?
George: Piscator wanted the whole human being on the stage and not like Brecht the alienated human. 23:00
Q: you are saying what Piscator wanted -- no gap between the ideal and attempt to bring that about in the audience. It (Paradise Now) changed my life; Can you evaluate that piece? At the time I thought there could not be any other theater but that theater. It was beyond history, how could we hope for more from theater?
Judith: we were dependent on the audience from one show to another. We cannot examine why the spirit of 1968 did not proceed to paradise. We’re still dealing with a world of weapons and violence. We did not have a clear vision of what we wanted to create. We wanted to get rid of police, etc. 26:48 Those structures are holding it back. When the next wave comes we have to be ready. 1968 did make a difference. We are in the result. We don’t see the trees for the forest. In schools, in families, in work place, there are now different relationships. We are getting ready to create the positive structures. That’s what we are working on. But not fast enough, Outside of this room we are getting ready (Bread and Puppet); the new social forms. War between rich and poor. We have a better take on it. I think we've got a better take on it and we are ready for the next generation. 29:27 Q: did you combine Brecht and Artaud?
Judith: when we did In the Jungle of Cities(?) and Man eats Man(?)-- Brecht and Antigone (Brecht’s version of Sophocles’ Antigone). and were able to combine two styles..We are trying to diffuse theatrical forms as a communication means.. to bring out that capability in people. Not an etherial realm of high art. Grassroots. B and P is great because it uses theater and you don’t have to study elocution for ten years. Theater is an available form of expression. Rent Strike: how to theatricalise that.
DeeDee question: Piscator vs Holly Flanigan and federal support of arts -- difference between radical base; I just crossed the meadow through all the horde of people. Is there hope for some form of support there? how can we generate support for arts and artists and a healthy world ?
Judith: the government is never the help of anything.We are all divided about it. We ask for funding and at the same time any support. But support from the (government) agencies is in the long run going to hurt us. Off Bway movement flourished on scrips and scraps but then funding came in and now you can’t do it on scrips and scraps anymore. There are divisions. But if we are dependent from sources that have other motives than art we are stuck inside the money system. Only our most radical thoughts of change are the only way out. It’s a revolutionary question. We are all crawling after our grant proposals. 37:24;
George: the change has to come from the bottom. The government has a different agenda. This theater doesn’t get money from the government, DeeDee: it is our money: it is an arena for struggle.
George: you have agree to give them your money and they will do with it what they want. The structure is not democratic. Art really does belong to the people-- (we need) art on their own level in their own communities. and that’s the way we have to change the whole attitude towards art. it becomes part of people’s lives and their livelihood. I have been through this issue: "lets lobby for the arts. etc" Forget it. People are taking it into their own hands. there are now (without funding) 200 venues because people are taking it in their own hands. any city has experimental theater companies. Decentralization. 42:00
Q:was Cezanne just a workman?
John Bell: (speaking of funding) to pay for this new building, tonight we are going to auction off the cardboard lupins. The circus is dependent on donations and sales of these two days. thank you 45;06 Issac and John Bell and flowers and grasshopper puppet. 47:16
Bread and Puppet Morning Meeting:
Peter: who organizes the birds tonight? Pedro; Nabila; Elka: make sure people know what happens at the end; Elka: How was the sound? Peter: You couldn’t hear from the Mammon.Meeting ends at 48:17
Visit breadandpuppet.org to learn more.
Archival video footage from the Bread and Puppet Theater community, including performances and preparation for their productions.
This is the continuation of the workshop with Judith Malina, George Bartenieff and John Bell which starts on 9339, continues on 9338.
Judith reads from her notes from classes at the New School with Piscator: society wants justice and an end to war…the doubters want butter. There is betrayal from drug store to the New School. Art is an excuse for our imperfections; we made art a special thing and the spirit flew out. We need art to complete the incompleteness of life. We have to take a step to this in the theater. Political theater IS art theater; Piscator said to use the audience to describe the impact of the story; Zola, Tolstoy, Schiller--these are the ancestors of political theater. He who wants nothing is nothing; Applause from audience. 7:56 John Bell: open up for discussion; Judith: Well, if there are no questions start the revolution now! Question; technology competes with theater. Piscator used all kinds of technology. John Bell: You are standing in front of DeeDee Halleck of Paper Tiger (with video technology).
Judith: we should not be afraid of technology: we should not be intimidated; they crumble to nothing; embrace the technology and all human possibilities. We are not competing; we have each other’s presence; nothing electronic will ever surpass a mind blowing human relationship.
George Bartenieff: Piscator discovered the use of technology. He took the romance out of it. With B and P we are back to people and more ancient things.
Q: Didn’t Living theater work with Bertolucci in the 1970s?
Judith: films and theater have a great deal more to go together-- Bertolucci did that, not just a scripted story. It was call the Fruitless Thing? They changed the name. There were four important directors, Passolini, Goddard, Bertolucci and ?. But the church squashed the film; It was repressed by the people who paid for it. …
Q:the relationship between Piscator and Artaud-- Piscator could not appreciate Artaud’s emotionalism; not Stanislovsky.
Judith: Piscator really respected actors; demanding a present personal statement. Peter Schumann has taken a puppet and given it so much persona; We are all cerebral but also emotional. We want intellect and guts; clearly the human being is a physical being; We are both.
Question from woman in hat: in asking whether you are emotional or intellectual or bringing it all together. I saw in your husband (Julian) both him and the role he was playing.
Judith: Necessity to be both. Can I be really Othello and not really strangle the actor who is Desdemona?
George: Piscator wanted the whole human being on the stage and not like Brecht the alienated human. 23:00
Q: you are saying what Piscator wanted -- no gap between the ideal and attempt to bring that about in the audience. It (Paradise Now) changed my life; Can you evaluate that piece? At the time I thought there could not be any other theater but that theater. It was beyond history, how could we hope for more from theater?
Judith: we were dependent on the audience from one show to another. We cannot examine why the spirit of 1968 did not proceed to paradise. We’re still dealing with a world of weapons and violence. We did not have a clear vision of what we wanted to create. We wanted to get rid of police, etc. 26:48 Those structures are holding it back. When the next wave comes we have to be ready. 1968 did make a difference. We are in the result. We don’t see the trees for the forest. In schools, in families, in work place, there are now different relationships. We are getting ready to create the positive structures. That’s what we are working on. But not fast enough, Outside of this room we are getting ready (Bread and Puppet); the new social forms. War between rich and poor. We have a better take on it. I think we've got a better take on it and we are ready for the next generation. 29:27 Q: did you combine Brecht and Artaud?
Judith: when we did In the Jungle of Cities(?) and Man eats Man(?)-- Brecht and Antigone (Brecht’s version of Sophocles’ Antigone). and were able to combine two styles..We are trying to diffuse theatrical forms as a communication means.. to bring out that capability in people. Not an etherial realm of high art. Grassroots. B and P is great because it uses theater and you don’t have to study elocution for ten years. Theater is an available form of expression. Rent Strike: how to theatricalise that.
DeeDee question: Piscator vs Holly Flanigan and federal support of arts -- difference between radical base; I just crossed the meadow through all the horde of people. Is there hope for some form of support there? how can we generate support for arts and artists and a healthy world ?
Judith: the government is never the help of anything.We are all divided about it. We ask for funding and at the same time any support. But support from the (government) agencies is in the long run going to hurt us. Off Bway movement flourished on scrips and scraps but then funding came in and now you can’t do it on scrips and scraps anymore. There are divisions. But if we are dependent from sources that have other motives than art we are stuck inside the money system. Only our most radical thoughts of change are the only way out. It’s a revolutionary question. We are all crawling after our grant proposals. 37:24;
George: the change has to come from the bottom. The government has a different agenda. This theater doesn’t get money from the government, DeeDee: it is our money: it is an arena for struggle.
George: you have agree to give them your money and they will do with it what they want. The structure is not democratic. Art really does belong to the people-- (we need) art on their own level in their own communities. and that’s the way we have to change the whole attitude towards art. it becomes part of people’s lives and their livelihood. I have been through this issue: "lets lobby for the arts. etc" Forget it. People are taking it into their own hands. there are now (without funding) 200 venues because people are taking it in their own hands. any city has experimental theater companies. Decentralization. 42:00
Q:was Cezanne just a workman?
John Bell: (speaking of funding) to pay for this new building, tonight we are going to auction off the cardboard lupins. The circus is dependent on donations and sales of these two days. thank you 45;06 Issac and John Bell and flowers and grasshopper puppet. 47:16
Bread and Puppet Morning Meeting:
Peter: who organizes the birds tonight? Pedro; Nabila; Elka: make sure people know what happens at the end; Elka: How was the sound? Peter: You couldn’t hear from the Mammon.Meeting ends at 48:17
Visit breadandpuppet.org to learn more.
- Addeddate
- 2015-05-06 22:18:25
- Boxid
- IA1503904
- Closed captioning
- no
- Color
- color
- Donor
- Bread and Puppet
- Identifier
- BP9342
- Scancenter
- San Francisco
- Scandate
- 20150506000000
- Scanner
- Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.1
- Sound
- sound
- Year
- 1993
comment
Reviews
There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to
write a review.
743 Views
3 Favorites
DOWNLOAD OPTIONS
IN COLLECTIONS
Bread and Puppet Arts & MusicUploaded by MichelleK on